Eighty-year-old Fatima who lives in Marja, one of Haidara’s villages in Kasserine, is convinced that the well water she and her family drink is clean and that the frogs living in the well are actually sterilizing it. She inherited this irrefutable piece of information from her mother.

At Haidara Valley, which is in front of her house, Mubaraka was desperately taking her share of water as if she were about to die of drought while her donkey was gulping down water to quench its thirst.  

Eighty-year-old Fatima who lives in Marja, one of Haidara’s villages in Kasserine, is convinced that the well water she and her family drink is clean and that the frogs living in the well are actually sterilizing it. She inherited this irrefutable piece of information from her mother.

At Haidara Valley, which is in front of her house, Mubaraka was desperately taking her share of water as if she were about to die of drought while her donkey was gulping down water to quench its thirst.  

“This water is for animals,” Mubaraka said. “Over time we gained immunity to any diseases which might be caused by it. The real suffering is walking to Haidara to get it,” she added sarcastically.

Haidara is not the only place in Tunisia where residents struggle to find drinking water but the National Water Distribution Utility (NWDU) is still unable to supply drinking water to these areas in which unfortunately no water supply projects have been implemented. These areas are monitored by water associations and get their water from shallow and underground wells.

Despite the fact that no medical cases were reported due to the use of well and valley water, Salwa Manaai, a public health doctor in Haidara stressed the need to take necessary health measures. “The use of untreated water causes many diseases including cholera, typhoid fever and hepatitis,” she said. 

Officials of Haidara Hospital said some people suffer from hepatitis due to the use of well and valley water.

Unchecked Tanks

Muhammad Khamis Gharsli, a public health senior technician at the Public Health Compound in Kasserine, stressed the importance of lab tests to ensure the quality of the water distributed by the National Utility, its agricultural engineering points and public water points (wells and springs).

He warned that most of the samples taken from the last two sources did not meet Tunisia’s drinking water standards, explaining that the problem is that the tanks and public water points go unchecked by the concerned monitoring authority.

The absence of a physiochemical laboratory to detect any poisons in the town’s water leads to aggravating problems, he said.

Abdulmonem Haji, Senior Health Supervisor at the Department of Health said this sector suffers from a lack of maintenance of its equipment, water pipes and public faucets. The long water cuts lead people to use points unsuitable for human consumption.

“The distance between the sewage pipes and drinking water pipes should be no less than one meter and the drinking water pipes should be above the national purification pipes,” said his colleague, Shawki Hermasi, stressing the need to replace the current pipes. “We have recently discovered that the sewage and drinking water pipes are running side by side which may lead them to mix in case of cracks or leaks. So people should not be surprised if one day they open their faucets and sewage water comes out instead,” he added.

Unmet standards

“The nitrate percentage in one well in Haidara is very high. In other words, its water does not meet the Tunisian standards despite the fact that the NWDU is still using it and the question is why?” he explained. Shawki mentioned many problems that are not unique to Haidara as similar ones also exist in Daghra.

Utility planning more wells

Rauf Faraj, Head NWDU, denied that the NWDU is negligent or indifferent. “Two years ago, we noticed that the nitrate percentage in one of Haidara’s wells is high so we dug another well in Tabaka in the same district. The well will be ready to use in eight months,” he stated.

As for the repeated water cuts, Faraj stressed that the NWDU is looking for a solution to avoid last summer’s scenario where there were cuts so frequent residents staged protests. One solution would be scheduling the digging of two deep wells for 2013-2014 to provide Kasserine with drinking water.

Sufyan Amery, an environmental expert and Head of Kasserine’s Environment Protection Association, stressed that many areas in the city suffer from contaminated water especially those known for growing fruit trees, due to overuse of pesticides and fertilizers.

Allies Plant

The environmental expert stressed that the water of Tala, a nearby area known for its marble cutting plants, is also contaminated due to the use of heavy metal marble-cutting tools. Kasserine’s water contamination issue is also related to an essential factor namely the Dough Allies and Paper Factory, he added.

Until there is action by authorities, Fatima says she will rely on her ancestors’ well.